Missing Pets On the Amory

I was taking a look at my Warcraftpets collection and my stats on the armory, and noticed that the two totals of unique pets collected didn't match up. According to my armory, I only have 453 pets collected, while my Warcrafpets status is 462.

What gives?

After some snooping and sleuthing, I found out that my armory is still bugged. It's not listing the following pets:

- Darkmoon Balloon
- Darkmoon Cub
- Darkmoon Monkey
- Darkmoon Tonk
- Darkmoon Turtle
- Darkmoon Zeppelin
- Tree Frog
- Wood Frog
- Sea Pony

Do you see a theme here? It's nearly all of the Darkmoon Faire related companions! I guess this faire is so elusive even its pets can hide even after they've been collected? :P

Of course, my situation isn't replicated on most other armories I checked. This doesn't appear to be an armory-wide or consistent bug. Some players had all the pets listed except for the balloon, while other armories weren't missing any.

The only thing that I can think of that sets my armory apart from those that I compared it to, is that mine was bugged for the longest time and didn't show ANY pets/mounts. I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure that that's probably a factor.

While this might not be a HUGE deal, since we can keep track of our collections manually on Warcaftpets, this does affect the Wowprogress ranking system somewhat. Since it pulls information directly from the armory, any characters that are afflicted by the missing pets bug will have their "pet points" inaccurately calculated.

Keep this in mind when checking out your score in relation to other players. The ranking system still isn't perfect or accurate. Maybe in the future once all these little discrepancies are sorted out.

So if your Warcraftpets collection isn't matching up with your armory, double check the pets listed above and any other pets. They're probably missing from your armory. I don't know if this bug includes only these pets or others.

This bug doesn't affect everyone, but high risk armories include those that weren't showing any pets/mounts, despite having a collected some. Which pets are missing doesn't seem to be consistent, so you'll have to double check. Don't forget to do a search in both "collected" and "not collected" tabs on your armory.

Hopefully these pets will find their way back to the armory in the near future. :)

Tell Me a Story, Mr. Skull

Just for funsies!


Even faction leaders enjoy companion pets. :P

Elder Charm Pets (Cont.)

My initial post on this topic was mainly out of emotion rather than rational thinking, but now that I've had a chance to mull over the situation, my stance remains the same. After giving it more thought and discussing it further with a friend, I still feel adding pets and mounts as a bonus reward for using an Elder Charm is not the right direction. Flasks, pots, and other raid specific consumables/necessities would be more appropriate and be less of a potential upset.

A specific pet per specific boss would be absolutely unfair, and I don't think this is how the system would work. If anything, all bosses within an instance would share the same "Elder Charm loot table", so by using an extra roll after any of the encounters, you'd have a shot at the pet.

The biggest concern with this model are the mounts. Mounts normally drop off of specific bosses. Would they suddenly become available from every boss in the raid instance (via only Elder Charm rolls)? That would give players 4 chances (3 charms per week plus the actual boss that drops the mount) per week. Wouldn't that be going against the "rarity" design?

If the mounts remain boss specific (but you get an extra shot on that boss by using an Elder Charm), doesn't that seem unfair to mount collectors? Pet collectors will have a statistically higher chance simply because there are more bosses to roll on, while mount collectors will only have the one boss and one extra roll.

This is such unnecessary drama that can be avoided by just leaving pets and mounts out of the equation. Leave things as they are, and find another goodie to add to the Elder Charm rolls.

Heck, if not raid consumables, I'd LOVE a 28 slot bag. Those are very expensive and hard to come by, even if they're craftable. That would be a great reward for all the effort and time spent gathering those charms.

Because the whole point of adding more to the Elder Charm loot table is to make it feel worthwhile right?

That brings me to a second issue with adding pets and mounts to the Elder Charm roll. Will they be old, pre-existing companions/mounts? Or a totally new one, made specifically for the extra roll loot table?

If it's the former situation, it doesn't exactly make the roll worth it for veteran players and collectors. Receiving something common like a Silver Tabby Cat after using your bonus roll is a bit of a let down for most IMO. Plus since many of the pre-MoP pets are readily available these days, many players will likely have them already and may not be able to profit or use it to their advantage.

Placing older mounts would probably be more well accepted since most mounts are harder to come by than some pets. But of course, then the pet collectors would get the shaft in this situation, unless the older pets that are added are the harder to obtain ones (such as the Hyacinth Macaw).

Now, if the pet/mount is a totally new one, just for the Elder Charm rolls, that would definitely feel like a reward. Everyone loves shiny new things.

But of course, the downside to this is that players would feel compelled to use their rolls just for a shot at the new pet/mount, even if they didn't need anything from that particular raid zone anymore. This goes back to my original concern where raiding collectors would then have to choose between saving rolls for progression or for their collection.

After a while and after content's no longer current, this won't be an issue. But as it stands, it being so early in the expansion, collectors will feel the pressure to choose to between saving their coins for current upgrades or using them on (relatively) older instances.

This is of course, if pets/mounts are specific to a raid zone. Example: An Elder Charm roll in Mogu'shan Vaults would yield only pet A, while an Elder Charm roll in Heart of Fear would yield only pet B.

If the rolls can yield the same pet/mount anywhere, there's no choice involved since you'll be using your charms anyway in hopes for a piece of gear.

This will be frustrating for pet collectors, though. Nevermind the RNG that will be involved, if they don't raid, how will they even have a chance? Not having access to a new pet that's only available through Elder Charm rolls (and only if you don't receive any piece of gear) will be devastating for some. It will be like the PVP vs. pet collecting scenario all over again, and many will feel obligated to just bite the bullet and do it despite their lack of desire to step into that world.

All in all, this is just the tip of the iceberg of all the potential headaches that will come with adding mounts and companion pets to the extra roll. Prevent the fire before it starts, and consider other possibilities; raid consumables, larger bags, and items that are hard to acquire but would be very useful, helpful and beneficial to everyone.

Pets are awesome, but they can't be the "fix" for everything. Honestly, it feels pretty cheap to just tack on a pet after the fact, as if pets and mounts are second-best items and used merely as compensation for poor rewards. (A pet should be a reward in itself, like the vanilla raid boss dropped pets in 5.1! :D)

Again, I know that nothing's been decided yet and adding pets/mounts to the rolls was just an idea/example of what they could do to make Elder Charms feel more engaging/fun. There aren't any concrete details on how this would even work, should they choose this as their ultimate design.

At the same time, I hope they seriously consider and choose other ways rather than just throwing vanity items around as a second thought.

All I can do now is just wait and see, and hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

What a Rare Collection You Have There

That's it! I caught the last rare pet that I needed to finish my collection. *sigh of relief*

Aside from the Minfernal (which I STILL haven't even seen yet), Scourged Whelpling, Wanderer's Festival Hatchling, and the three Pandaria pets that don't seem to come in rare, all my wild pets are now the highest quality possible.

Honestly, I'm thinking of just saving Battle-Stones to turn those particular pets into rares in patch 5.1. The Minfernal and Scourged Whelpling are such a pain to find in general, nevermind looking for a rare version. If this changes with the next patch, I might resume the hunt. But there's always the chance that it will be more of the same, just on randomly spaced timers, rather than mass spawns after server restarts.

I'm only slightly sure that I can get a Wanderer's Festival Hatchling in a better quality. My problem is my guild tends to do unofficial raids on Sunday night, so that eats into my pet hunting time. I might have to just skip one just so I don't miss the festival. The other issue is that I'm sure the hatchling is still in high demand and I won't be the only one trying to capture one. Needless to say being on a PVP server definitely has its downsides when it comes to pet hunting.

Next up: Level everything to 25! This task won't be as fun as it was to hunt for rares, but it's necessary if I want the Singing Cricket.

I'm slowly but surely achieving the personal goals set for my collection. Man, does it feel so rewarding!

No. Thank You.

"But with that said, we're exploring ways to make the bonus roll feel like more of a random bonus, without just making it extremely efficient for gaining character power. We understand how it feels to spend the charms and rarely see anything other than gold or items you don't need. So, for example, we could maybe add pets and mounts that would have a low chance of dropping exclusively on a bonus roll." - source

This was in response to a discussion about the Elder Charms and the new loot roll system.


All I can say is, PLEASE no. For the love of everything, NO. Is this a knee-jerk reaction? Possibly. Am I upset that this is even being considered? Totally. I may be the only one that feels this way, though. I'm sure others would feel elated if they had an extra shot at a mount off a boss.

I do understand that Zarhym was just presenting a possible example, however I don't agree with it nor do I want it to gain any steam. What I want and what actually occurs is rarely the same thing. But that's something we just have to live with.

Anyway, back on topic. I do not want to have to choose between gearing up by using an extra roll or saving it for a slight chance at a vanity pet off a boss. Implementing pets and mounts as possible drops EXCLUSIVELY through Elder Charm rolls is basically forcing pet collectors that raid to choose between PVE progression and collecting.

You only get so many charms per week; three I believe. Granted you may not need every single one of those each week, depending on which bosses you kill, but at the same time you could be saving them for specific bosses next week.

With so few charms available, and so many potential upgrades, HOW will we have any charms left over for vanity item rolls? This won't be possible until the content has become dated and no longer current.

But even then, the Elder Charms will still be necessary for progression, as new tiers will be released and more upgrades will be desired.

Until the very end of the expansion, when all the raid content has been exhausted and there's very little need for Elder Charms, pet collecting raiders will be forced to choose between vanity and progression.

I sympathize that the extra roll often doesn't seem very rewarding, but there are SO MANY OTHER things that could be added to the roll. Flasks, pots, raid food, etc. These things would directly help a raiding player and be appropriate rewards other than gold from an extra roll.

Please leave vanity items out of this; don't put raiding collectors in such an unfair position.

Or at the very least, this mechanic would need to be planned out so that collectors aren't forced to choose between rolling on a boss for gear they need, or a boss that they don't need gear from but want a pet from.

Edit: A guildmate suggested a scenario where a roll for a pet might be fair enough for both raiding players and collectors. Rather than specific bosses, a pet or mount would come from any extra roll within the raid zone. Across all bosses, all raids.

The only problem I see with this, though, is that mounts drop off of specific bosses. Would that mean the mount would be lootable from ANY boss that you decide to use the Elder Charm on? Wouldn't that undermine the "rarity" factor that Blizzard insists upon?

Or would the mounts remain boss specific, while pets are possible from any roll? How would this be fair for mount collectors, then?

It still seems like a bad idea to me.

Part two of this discussion here.

Don't Leave Home Without Your Hat

A guildmate brought to my attention a concern about one of the achievement rewards coming in the next patch.

The Safari Hat will be the reward for defeating 45 Master Pet Tamers (Taming the World) in 5.1. This item is BoA, which means it can only be mailed to toons on the same server (cross faction included) and not across realms.

For players that have toons spanning multiple servers, this is a problem since only one group of toons on one server would have access to the hat.

However, Mumper clarified on Twitter that all toons on an eligible account will receive the Safari Hat. All characters, regardless of server, will get the hat after completing the achievement.

So no worries if you enjoy leveling and Pet Battling on one of your toons on one server, while your characters on another server are reserved for doing other things. You'll have access to the pet experience boost on both servers.

I guess that means more Pet Battling for all, including alts! :D

Current Collecting Goals

I'm 3 pets away from collecting all rare quality wild pets! Of course this doesn't include the highly camped and hard to find Minfernal and Scourged Whelpling. Also excluded is the Clouded Hedgehog, Silent Hedgehog and Jungle Grub, which don't seem to come in rare at the moment.

After collecting all rares, I plan on continuing to level my pets. I'm only at a meager 31 level 25 companions. :(

Between raiding, dailies, capping VP each week, leveling alts and their professions, and of course RL priorities, I haven't been able to level my pets as much as I would like to.

The ultimate goal? To collect every wild pet, rare quality, and then level all my pets to 25. Yes, all 400+ pets to 25. Needless to say, that's going to take a while lol.

Once 5.1 comes out, I'll have to put grinding pet experience to the side again. There will be SO MANY new pets to collect; I won't be able to focus on purely leveling at all.

To break the routine, I might try out another color challenge. I discovered that nearly all my scorpion pets are color-changers, which means I might not have to collect each color.

But there's also that "fix" for color-changers coming in patch 5.1. Until I find out more about the "fix" to these skin-swappers, and if it will actually work, I guess I can only plan for the worst. The worst scenario being that I have to replace the color-changers with pets of the actual colors that I want.

Oh and random screenshot is random! XD


Can't believe my Feral Vermling ate my last carrot. :P

Cinder Kitten For Charity

Much like the fundraiser for the victims of the tsunami that struck Japan, Blizzard will be doing the same for the victims of Sandy.

This time around, 100% of the profits from Cinder Kitten (not yet released) will go to the Red Cross in an effort to help aid those that suffered loss from the storm.

Support the Red Cross’s Superstorm Sandy Response relief efforts and adopt a Cinder Kitten when this fiery feline arrives in the Blizzard Store later this year. Your support will enable the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, emotional support, and other assistance to survivors of disasters like Superstorm Sandy with 100% of the $10 USD adoption fee during this charity drive going toward this worthy cause.

Details about when and how you can purchase the pet will be announced in the coming weeks, so stay tuned! To learn more about the Pet Store, please visit the Pet Store FAQ.

The American Red Cross name and emblem are used with its permission, which in no way constitutes an endorsement, express or implied, of any product, service, company, opinion, or political position. For more information about the American Red Cross, visit www.redcross.org. - source

Like with previous fundraising items, it's likely that there will be a deadline to have your purchase count towards the donation to the Red Cross. After a specified date, the proceeds will then go back to Blizzard. We'll have to wait to hear more details.

Again, this pet has NOT been released yet. This is just an announcement providing a preview on how the donations will work. More information on when the Cinder Kitten will be available will be coming in the near future.

I can't wait to adopt this bundle of fiery fluff AND help out with the relief efforts. :)

Non-Wild Pet Quality

In 5.1 the Pet Journal will show the quality of ALL pets, including the non-wild, pre-MoP ones. I checked out the PTR and decided to chart all of the non-wild pets and their listed quality.

You can currently do this on live servers too if you use an addon that shows quality, but it may take some time since you have to actually enter a battle to view each pet's quality.


Click here to view larger version
Some things to keep in mind:

- Blue indicates rare, green indicates uncommon.

- I don't own all the pets on the PTR, and my collection is obviously not recent or up-to-date.

- The qualities of these non-wild pets could change at any time. This is the PTR afterall.

- I'd like to compare the current non-wild pet qualities with the PTR versions to see if any were upgraded/downgraded for 5.1

If anyone has information on any missing pets that aren't listed, feel free to leave a comment to let me know the quality of that companion. Keep in mind I'm mainly interested in the pets that existed before MoP was released. ;)

Small Pet Q&A

Wowjuju.com posted a recent developer Q&A (November 5th). Only three questions pertaining to Pet Battles were asked.

Q: Currently Pet Battle are only between the same faction. Is it possible we'll allow cross-faction pet duels? Will we have a Spectator Mode for pet battles?
A: There are currently no plans to make Pet Battles cross-faction. There isn’t really a need to build in that functionality either, provided enough players are participating that the queue times aren’t long.

Q: Do we consider adding further music tracks to the pet battles? The current music playing during the battles gets a bit old after a while.
A: There is an option to turn off pet battle music specifically if you get sick of it. We don't have any plans at the moment to expand upon the existing pet battle music. We did shuffle 10 tracks into different playlists and added some logic to the way they play back though. Specifically, PvP battles have the more driving pieces, and the trainer/boss battles have longer tracks that are less likely to repeat during a fight. PvE (wild) has overlap with both of these, but is weighted more with the less intense music. It's minor, be we feel this improves the experience by tying each music piece more consistently to different types of battles.

Q: There are rumours about several UI improvements and other features being added in patch 5.1 for pet battles. Anything you can share on this?
A: Just as an example of something awesome we plan to do with the pets that drop from old raid bosses you can share, if you collect all of them you get an achievement that unlocks Mr. Bigglesworth from Naxxramas. To distinguish him from the standard Siamese cat model, we gave him some sweet frozen whiskers and a frost path behind his footsteps. He's Undead.

These aren't especially revealing questions and answers, but I must say that I am definitely intrigued by the details of Mr. Bigglesworth. Frozen whiskers and frosty footsteps? Can't wait to see it for myself! I hope all the vanilla boss dropped pets get their own unique animations and/or interactions.

The link above has the full Q&A transcript if you'd like to read more than just the pet details. ;)